doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Side Lever SXS for a lefty

I have only operated right sided, side levers. They work quite well. After a few times they became just as easy to operate as a top lever. If I ever get rich I am going to find a pair of Grant side levers. I love the lines of a side lever. So trim.

I've looked at side-lever, break-open guns, and I find just the opposite. They look like strange mutants without their top lever and the addition of the toilet flush lever on either side does nothing to help. But in the end, it's just a matter of getting used to the idea and then it starts look better (maybe). In any event, I won't be bidding you up on any Grant side levers so have at 'em.

I've never seen a Belgian folding "Poacher's Gun" that had the side lever on the L.

It does seem that many JABC tradenamed side lever guns have the lever on the L however.

Wm. Moore & Co. was a popular knock-off (most by Pieper)

Dewey Vicknair's side lever
https://shootingsportsman.com/vicknairoriginal/
The sidelever was chosen, because I think it is the best-looking method of operating the bolts. Invariably, the first question asked when someone sees the gun is why I made the sidelever left-handed. The answer is that I didn’t. I’m right-handed, and when holding the gun, my right thumb is on the left side, hence the lever’s location. It’s not traditionally done that way, but it works well for me; so functionality trumps tradition here. Personally, I never have understood any of the rationales behind putting the lever on the right side of a right-handed gun. Too many things in the trade are done simply because “that’s the way it’s always been done,” and the traditional position of the sidelever seems to fall into that category.

Boss may claim that theirs is the “World’s First Fully Ambidextrous Shotgun” but if I recall rightly my Stevens 20 bore single from about 1910 would open quite happily whichever way you pushed the lever.

I have three side-levers, two Grants and a Lancaster. The Grants, 12 & 16, are right, and the Lancaster, 12 hammer, is a left. The left side for me, a right handed shooter, is far more comfortable than the the right. I was told when seeking to convert the rights to left that the right side was tradition for loaders, and the left for shooters. Not sure how accurate that statement was. Never converted the Grants as it was not problematic (and very expensive).

So if the right side lever was not made for the shooter, but for the man loading his guns, why now, with a paucity of matched pairs of shotguns with an even greater shortage of hired loaders, do right hand shooters use right side levers? I would think those guns would only be attractive to left hand shooters. They must be awkward for right handlers.

I thought the lever placement always had to do with if you had a person to hand the shotgun to and load or if you did it yourself

I used a right handed Edwinson Green hammergun with a left sidelever quite a bit and had no issue with it .It was a fine gun !!!

Another variant on the side-lever (& the only one I've even seen). I'm finding that I'm adapting well to its use (as I suspect most would do with whatever version they end-up with). Given all that, I really do find the more-standard right-side sidelevers very useful and attractive (as I'm a southpaw myself).